I let someone else

Photography is no joke, not to me, not to the people I serve while documenting crime scenes. It takes two sides of the brain to be the technical artist behind the lens. There are times, with all I know, that I let others do the hard work and just enjoy.

Today there was a solar eclipse. I know the best photographers in the world are out their with sophisticated equipment capturing it. I just can’t wait to see some of the better results.

I’m also a photo freak. I can’t just ‘kick it’, waiting around like some voyeuristic couch potato waiting to gobble up the flotsam of others efforts. So I had to do something.  Yep, I wanted to do a poignant photo with my cell phone. I need help, I know.

How?  Not directly, all I would get is a tiny white dot. After looking for a surface that would not be blinding when I focused the sun with my reading glasses on it, I went to work lining things up. First try; the inside of a sunglass case that was coated in black felt was a pooch.

I could not get the direction of the sun, and the background, and my glasses, and the cell phone all out of each other’s way. The left side of my brain was being a snob and started to suggest getting clips and a tripod. The right side was more impatient and wanted to be manlier about it all, that is also the side that drinks. I decided to concur problem one; get the image to look right. Finally the two sides of my brain quit arguing and settled on my front door. I put the glasses up, and using them like one would use a magnifying glass I focused the dual image on the door. Then the idiot celestial movements took my lovely alignment and made it oblong or egg shaped, POOP!

The left side of my brain kicked in after laughing at the artistic right that had the idea in the first place. The artist wanted to just go have more beer, the left said sorry, and discussed swinging the door to match the suns track, in reverse, BINGO!

Now I had a decent dual image, a great line up and the right contrast to make Mr. cell phone happy. Using my left big toe to slowly keep the door opening I was able to with only two hands line up and take the shot. That’s when the left side wanted a beer too and suggested that we look for better shots tomorrow on the web.

To you the astronomer I hold in such high esteem. I look forward to your work, wish I were as smart and am glad you are keeping photography’s limits pushed. Not every photographer does fashion, and weddings, and crime scenes, and astronomy. Not every child will grow up fulfilling its parent’s wishes. Do let them try and fail. Let yourself try, fail, and try again. If you do, at least you will have lived a bit more, then if you did not.